N. Palm Beach to Ft. Pierce

MARCH 19, 2007 (N. Palm Beach to Fort Pierce) Fuel situation seems o.k., but I’ll keep a close eye on it just in case (if it shows up again, I will have to start “dismantling) things to find a source, but so far, so good….I’ll keep my fingers crossed. When checking out, Joyce spoke to Suzy (the office girl who we befriended last time here) and she only charged us $100 for 4 days of dockage (that’s cheap!). Anyway, it’s nice to be cruising in the ICW again. Lots of scenery instead of just big open water. Small waterways go off in every direction. Total leg today will be about 6 hours. When I do an engine check, I don’t see fuel or anything. Over the radio we here the coast guard inquiring about a sail boat (which left Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas and headed for Jacksonville, Fl.). It’s in some sort of trouble. The Coast Guard is looking for anyone who sees them to assist them any way they can…although I’m not sure how many boats will be out there today with the seas and winds as high as they are. Later we here the same announcement. We hope they are o.k. and that it’s not any of our friends we have met. Got into Fort Pierce and the wind really kicked up. Had to dock in 20 - 25 knot winds…but all went o.k. By the time we settled in, it started to rain pretty heavily. This is a nice municipal marina. We had dinner at their restaurant and then called it an early night. We hit 4200 miles today and have been out 287 days.

N. Palm Beach

MARCH 16, 2007 (N. Palm Beach) What a great nights sleep! We really needed it. We’re back in N. Palm Beach and it is as windy as when we left (glad we came across yesterday- we definitely would have ended up having to stay there for a long time before getting the next window. One of the boaters, who we met here last time, loaned us their car so we could go to customs and “check in”. The front is definitely on its way because when we get back to the boat the wind was really whipping, and the clouds were covering the sky. We pull everything down from the fly bridge and take a nice relaxing day. MARCH 17, 2007 (N. Palm Beach) Still windy. Time to re-provision. Hit the local West Marine, Grocery store, Home Depot, Costco and Target. Got back to the boat and smelled a strong diesel fuel odor. Went into the engine room and did a intensive search. Found some diesel in the bilge (absorbed it with a bilge boom) removed my bilge pump so, if it is a leak, it will not turn on automatically and unintentionally pump anything overboard. I also turned off each fuel tank and since I just did all 6 fuel filter changes, checked the filters, lines and pumps…no leaks. I narrowed it down to my port fuel tank. It’s not dripping or running, but definitely fuel. I cleaned it up and will monitor it over the evening. I put some absorbent pads down just in case. When I checked later, there was still some very slight wetness, but no puddle or running fuel (that’s good). It may have spilled out the top from a loose hose fitting or maybe a vent while rolling around during that long and rolly crossing. I will check it again in the morning. MARCH 18, 2007 (N. Palm Beach) The smell is gone but went down and checked the fuel issue again. I checked the engine room and there is still some very slight dampness by that port tank (but not even enough to leave a mark on the absorbent pads)…maybe its just left over residue. Again, it’s still windy today. Glad we left Bahamas when we did, or we would have been there for a long time waiting for a weather window. Fixed the flag pole by inserting a metal rod up the center, with some gorilla glue and then worked on business the rest of the day. Later we went out to dinner, got ice cream and came back and played Clue. If weather is good, we should be leaving in the morning.

Back to the USA

MARCH 15, 2007 (West end to North Palm Beach, FL) Up before sunup (around 6am). A bit windy, but NOAA says 2-4 in the Gulf stream…so it’s a go. At sun up we left the dock and started across. Well, NOAA was wrong! There is a saying, “Never trust NOAA”….today that saying was right. The crossing ended up a trip that would test our mettle. When we got out of the marina and into the ocean, the seas were already 2-4 (near shore). On the radio we hear another boat say they are turning back and Jaycie starts crying (a little) and says she wants to go back too. We told her we are not going back and she’s just going to have to tough it out. Once we got out a ways, nearer to the gulf stream, I would estimate (without exaggeration) seas were about 4-7, with some bigger rough waves, every now and again. At times we could see ML all but disappear in the swells (we could only see her fly bridge windshield and bimini with enclosure. My biggest concern at this point was that we would lose an engine (or two!). We topped off fuel so the “slopping around” inside the tank wouldn’t stir up any sediment , if there is any, on the bottom of the tank and since we have all new filters, we should be fine. The total trip should be about 7 hours, so we will have to suck it up for a LONG TIME. The gulf stream runs at about 3 knots. With strong seas our best bet is to head directly into them, however, when we do that we drop to around 4 ½ to 5 knots, which would increase our travel time dramatically, and I don‘t think this was the best choice for our companion boat (ML). I do believe on heavy passages it would be best to travel with a boat of the same type, because what was best for me, was not for ML and visa versa (therefore, we both took courses and speeds which were not optimum for either of us). Anyway, we decide to take the sea abeam, which creates a wild “rolling” situation for our boat whenever the big sets of swells come. Luckily Joyce and Jaycie took Dramamine before we left. Even with it, they were having a little trouble with their head. Being captain and having to pilot the boat, I refused to allow it to enter my mind (although, I was definitely aware of how wild it was). When I would go below to do engine and cabin checks it would start to “get to my head” (and a little to my stomach). If I stayed in there for a long period of time I think I would be in big trouble. As we got deeper into the Gulf stream the rolling became really dramatic. Let me just say that at no time did I fear for the safety of us or our boat. I do believe this boat could take almost anything you could throw at it (I was so confident in the boat that I was actually hoping the bow would go under just so I could see it “pop” back out). Before I describe the next events, I want to make sure you understand what “rolling” and a “beam sea” is (my apologize for boring you experienced boaters). A beam sea is when the swells/waves are hitting you directly on the side/broadside of your boat. Rolling is the motion the boat takes on after being hit with this constant beam sea and your boat rocks from left to right. Being a sundeck (and I believe our full keel), we have a lot of “high weight” compounding this effect. Because of our type hull, it is not a hard snapping motion, but rather a smooth rocking motion back and forth. Before going into rough water we lay everything down inside the boat that we think could fall. Well, we rolled so hard and so many times the inside of our boat looked like it “blew up”! First our kyack on top of the sundeck lost its back end control and started swinging from side to side. Joyce took the helm and I donned my life vest and climbed up top, crawled over and re-secured it while rolling side to side. We were constantly hearing bangs and small crashes from inside, but ignored most because, even with all our hand holds below, it was still difficult (and dangerous) to walk around-inside or outside. If the crash sounded loud enough, I would go below and investigate. The next big crash was from the sundeck. We secure the furniture by tying it to the side wall, unfortunately the 48” glass top was not, and it flew off on the floor….don’t ask how it didn’t break! (thank God). While checking on that I looked in the cabin and things that you though could never fall were strewn all about the cabin. Even our “ditch bag” from under the stairs was now out, down the stairs and on our bedroom floor (still easy to get if we should need it in an emergency : ). Lamps, binders, pots, fans….you name it, but at this point they are safer on the floor. The next big crash was our wall unit with flat screen TV!!!!! Right off the wall! Pulled off its mounting (no damage to the wall or floor). Again, left it there. It’s safer there and we can check damage when we get to port (about 4 more hours). At this point, we’re bummed that we might have smashed our flat screen, but we’re still enjoying the challenge of the passage. As the bigger swells pass under us you can hear the water rush past the opposite side of the boat . You can’t see down the swell, just a big “drop off” on the other side of the swell as it rolls away from us. Very exciting…but definitely stressful and wearing. Jaycie cried a couple of times and Joyce and I yelled at each other too (usually after saying, “What’s that noise?…Well find it!!!). After doing some calculations (thanks to ML) we realize our seven hour passage is going to be more like nine!! Time to gut it out. ML has radio trouble when they get sprayed with water. They switch to a hand held and we’re back in touch. Just then we get hit by a big swell and Joyce, who is laying down on the side bench seat is literally dumped off her seat (with the cushion) and lands on the floor…along with the binoculars and anything else on the seat. When she gets up she goes for the binoculars and we get hit with another roller and she goes down…this time hard! She hit’s the bikes (which are strapped on the fly bridge) and scrapes her back on the peddle and arm on the sprocket. Two of the teeth from the sprocket penetrate and go under her skin (rusty, of course). Luckily she has had a tetanus shot recently (from her eye scratch). Jaycie takes the helm as I go below to get the first aid kit. Joyce is cleaned up and bandaged in about 10 minutes and I‘m back at the helm. I have to say that Jaycie did an AWESOME job!!! I don’t know any 9 year old who could have handled the boat, and the pressure, that well (the Power Squadron would have been proud). Three times we roll hard enough to pull the prop out of the water. When we finally get out of the gulf stream, on the Florida side, we head into the swells which is great for us and not so good for ML. The water is not as big on this side, but rougher. Water is spraying everywhere, but we only got “watered down” three times (which we thought was great). We come in the inlet, passing the beaches and looking out, there is no way we would have left from here on that day. But, we’re here and all is good! We take a nice leisurely stroll down the ICW and head to the same marina we left from, Old Port Cove. It’s nice and relaxing coming into this area because we know it so well. The winds are 15-20 mph but we get into the dock fine (other than the dock hand has a line across my flag pole and they snap it off- I thought we were done with damage! : ). We go below to assess the damage and what a mess! It took us over an hour to clean up. First, and most important, the TV is fine (I don’t know how, but it is). The wall unit sustained some damage (split seams, dent in face wood, broken retaining bar, etc.), but everything is repairable. The boats are COVERED with salt. Just putting your hand on the railing it comes up with white crystallized salt all over it. We wash down the boats and are too worn out to go anywhere, so we order a pizza, make some margaritas and toast the completion, and safe passage back from the Bahamas. It was a wild crossing, but definitely challenging…. and fun! (Joyce and Jaycie thought so too) The aftermath

Grand Cay to West End

MARCH 13, 2007 (Grand Cay to West end) Today we travel to our “jump off point” at West end. That was our first land fall coming over here. We have about a 6 or 7 hour run today. The weather is nice and the water is relatively calm. Along the way I did a little boat work (replaced a toggle switch, filled a gelcoat chip and measured for a shelf), while Joyce and Jaycie did school. Our port engine has been acting up. It feels like a fuel filter, but it’s a little early for that (although I still think it is). Before coming over here we had switched to a new filter arrangement (large micron primary/low micron secondary), but after seeing this and giving it more thought…I don’t really care for it. We’re only about ½ way to our West end. I hope we can make it there before engine failure….I would rather not change filters on a hot engine, while moving next to a running one….but I’ll do it if I have to! Luckily, it never came down to it. The engines ran rough about 8 more times, ranging from 11-60 minute intervals. We got into West End fine and fueled up before docking. Like the first time here, we love this place. Went for a swim, had dinner, played 500 Rummy and called it a night. Seas are expected to be 4-7’ tomorrow, so we will stay and hope to leave on Thursday or Friday when the seas calm down (hopefully). Meantime, it will give me time to change the fuel filters before crossing. There’s a shuttle launch from Florida this Friday and we would really like to be over there to see it. ML cooked a lobster tail dinner to celebrate our completion of the Bahamas. Nice ending to a beautiful part of the trip.

Allans Pensicola to Grand Cay

MARCH 12, 2007 (Allans Pensicola Cay to Grand Cay) I woke up a couple of times during the night to check on our postion, but everything was fine. I guess it was the short road, back in Cabbage Cay, that made us slip. Anyway, it was very secure, just like in always use to be. It’s a really nice morning and we pulled anchor and headed for Grand Cay. It’s about a 4 hour cruise and we will be staying at a marina. Very shallow entrance way, we dragged bottom a little on the way in (soft, no problem). Cute little Cay, but very depressed. They have been hit with 3 hurricanes and you can see they repair things as they get the money. A real eye opener. They must not get very many white visitors here, because we heard the words “white people” more than once. It was interesting to be the minority and feel as if you didn’t fit in. A great learning experience for Jaycie to see what it feels like to be “different”. We walked the entire island. The houses were small and very close together. The grocery, restaurant and pizzeria (yes pizzeria) were extremely tiny. People were mixed between friendly and stand offish (kind of like NY). We ran into the only white couple living on the island and got some history and local information. It was really interesting. He just bought a house and move here a few months ago. He said that people here are set in their ways and most adults live to about 55. He tries to tell them health things for longevity, but they are not interested. We went back to the boat and had a very relaxing evening. Although I wouldn’t want to spend time here (there really isn’t much to see or do), I am very glad we came. A little side note, for the most part no one looked happy on this island. I pointed out to Jaycie that houses still have wood covering their windows, debris everywhere…you really feel for these people : (. People hang their laundry out on lines and yet we have a washer and dryer on our boat….it really makes you appreciate what you have.

Green Turtle Cay to Allans Pensicola Cay

MARCH 11, 2007 (Green Turtle Cay to Allans Pensicola Cay) Today we turn back our clocks and lose and hour…not that it matters when you don’t have a time schedule. We were a little bugged about being overcharged for water (250 gallons) but we couldn’t find the paper that had the starting meter numbers (it’s only $50...but it’s the principle!). We left around 10:00 for Allans Pensicola Cay anchorage. It’s pretty well protected and especially from the northern winds, which we currently have. It’s a little windy so we put out an extra 25’ of chain (don’t want to make that mistake again). It’s a really private anchorage with lots of little beaches to see….so we jump in our dinghies and go exploring. We did some shelling and found lots of nice ones. Later ML went back to their boat, Jaycie and I drop Joyce off at the boat and head out to a string of rock islands to snorkel. Before we leave I mention to Joyce “what if we run into a shark (we are in a really remote location)?”. Joyce says don’t worry about it, but I get my leg knife just in case. You always feel a little more vulnerable when you have your “little girl” with you. Anyway, we get to our spot and we are looking over to pick a good spot to start and suddenly Jaycie is in the water. I ask her if she was in a rush to get started and she said, “No, I fell in!” . So I jump in with her and tie the dinghy around my waste (with a bowline knot-thank you power squadron) to tow the dinghy while I swim, holding Jaycie’s hand. Within 1 minute of being in the water a HUGE spotted ray…BEAUTIFUL…with around a 4’ tail goes by us at about 10’…AMAZING! Of course, Jaycie was not very pleased…but she did remain calm and even stayed in (for about 5 minutes) after it disappeared into the distant haze. She then got back in the boat and with her mask and snorkel, snorkeled from within the safety of the boat. I towed her all around the island and we saw some amazing sights (coral, starfish, every kind of fish, schools of fish, biscuits, etc.). After about ½ an hour I was about to make a second lap around the island, when out of the gray comes a SHARK! No kidding! I don’t’ know how big it was, but big enough to scare me. As he cruised by, swaying back and forth…I ejected myself from the water (I think I ran on top of the water) and into the dinghy (good thing I brought my knife : ). One minute I’m in the water and in seconds I’m in the boat. Jaycie turned around, surprised and I told her what happened. We both laughed and headed back to the boat. I think that’s enough snorkeling for one day. Back at the boat ML came over for dinner and to play a game. That night, before bed, I was a little concerned about our anchor dragging while we sleep (amazing what one bad experience can do), so we set our anchor alarm, watched a movie and then went to bed.

One more day

MARCH 10, 2007 (Green Turtle Cay) We called Christy and she sounds rested and actually good. It was good to hear her in such good spirits. Interestingly enough Joyce had her appendix removed at the same age. Luckily, the new way of doing it doesn’t leave a big scar and the recuperation time is much faster (less trauma to the body). Our next stop is going to be an anchorage and we will have no guaranteed way of contacting Christy, so we stayed put in Green Turtle. The weather is overcast and rained (and poured) for a good part of the day. Jaycie went to the beach and pool with a little girl she met on the snorkeling trip. Joyce and I stayed back at the boat and did some business. It‘s funny, you don‘t even mind doing business when you are sitting in the Bahamas : D. We called Christy again and she said she was “walking” out of the hospital and going to get a bite to eat on the way home….unbelievable! Surgery yesterday and walking and home today! She said we should move on and that she was fine and that she had lots of family support (plus her boyfriend Billy will be there and I am sure he will watch over her!). Thanks, Billy!

Snorkeling with Brendal

MARCH 9, 2007 (Green Turtle Cay) Today’s the day. We met this morning and went on our snorkeling excursion. Unfortuately, the water was very rough (2 people got sick). Luckily we were “in shape“ for those conditions and it was a non-issue. It also started raining (hard at times), but to us it didn’t matter…we’re going to be wet anyway. We are really proud of Jaycie because, in those rough conditions, she got in the water and snorkeled with us for a while (luckily no rays came by). Joyce and I then went to the outside of the reef and saw schools of barracuda, more fish than you could count and a sea turtle. It was awesome, meanwhile the weather cleared up. When everyone was back in the boat we headed for a little island. We had the best picnic / barbeque ever. Conch salad (that Brendal made along the way), red snapper and lobster tails (all which he catches and cooks himself)...MMMMMM! Then, at the shore, we got to see and feed sting rays. Even Jaycie conquered her fear and fed them! It was pretty cool, you could stick some food between your toes and the would come up and suck it out….very cool. A gray colored shark (about 4’) came in close to shore and just cruised the area a little….we were close enough to shore to run if we had to….I think!? : D There was a little girl (5), from Colorado on the trip with us, so Jaycie had someone to play with. We headed back to the marina and had rum punch along the way. On the way back to the marina, Brendal let Jaycie drive the boat. She took it the whole way back. She handled it like a pro. What a party! When we got back, Joyce had 5 messages/missed calls. We found out that Christy is in the hospital and had to have her appendix removed. Luckily, our families were there to lend her support and since her Aunt Debbie is an RN at that hospital, she and Doug (my brother) made sure everything was handled right. She also had a lot of visits from both sides of the family, so she wasn’t alone in her time of need….THANKS GUYS! We called and she said she was doing fine…but tire, so we said we would call her tomorrow.

Green Turtle Stay

MARCH 8, 2007 (Green Turtle Cay) What a gorgeous calm morning! We went for breakfast with ML, but Joyce had gotten her legs eaten (by bugs-somewhere) and took benedril to sleep….it wiped her out! She slept in. When we got back Jaycie and Joyce did some home schooling, while I went into the engine room to check on the leaking oil cooler. While getting out my spare, I found that Ward (previous owner) had a new one in stock too…thank you ,Ward! After inspecting further I noticed it had a pin hole leak that was easily accessible. I decided to JB weld it instead (I’ll still have the spares if the need should arise). The JB weld that I used on my coolant tank and muffler worked beautiful and hopefully this will do the same. The stuff is awesome. After it sets, you can grind it, sand it and paint it….great stuff (JB weld is a proud sponsor of the Trinity’s Great Loop : D . A while back I bought that “flexible corrugated black plastic tubing stuff” (it’s an industry term), and wrapped some loose wires and hoses in the engine room…looks neat…I love it! Did I mention it’s the simple things in life that can give the greatest pleasure? Afterwards, we took our dinghies into town and went to the bakery (and homemade ice cream). On the way back we checked out a few anchorages and stopped on a desolate little beach. We headed back and it was funny to see how our “big” boat was just a little dinghy here. Looking from our boat to the left….we were big. Looking from our boat to the right… we were small (finishing of the line with a 129’ Trinity yacht at the end of the dock. We had to be careful not to accidentally go on the wrong “Trinity” at the end of the day : D . When Jaycie drove the dinghy down the side of the boat, I realized I could easily sand the fiberglass repair I had done on the second day of our trip! So she got me some sand paper and I finished it up. In a little while we will head out to dinner to eat some more of our dockage. Tomorrow we will go on our snorkeling excursion (Joyce called to let the kids know we would be out all day and out of contact).

Great Guana back to Green Turtle Cay

MARCH 6, 2007 (Great Guana Cay to Green Turtle Cay) It’s a nice morning although a still a little cool and pretty windy. We’ve decided to move on today. We will head back to Green Turtle Cay. We all loved it so much we are excited to go back. It’s about a 2 hour trip. When we went out in the ocean, we had decent size beam seas for about a 40 minutes (nothing really bad-no furniture flying J ). About a week ago, I had noticed some “wetness” on the starboard side of the starboard engine. Since we’ve only been doing “short hops” lately, I haven’t been doing engine room checks while traveling. Once we got out of the beam seas I went below to do an extensive check. I found that there was a leak. The oil cooler was leaking raw water (salt water) and a good rate. I tightened the hose, but it didn’t help. The engines too hot to lean over to the outside of it, but from the back it appears to be a crack in the cooler itself (luckily I keep a spare on board). It’s not critical (yet) and since we are going to stay at Green Turtle for the week, I will fix it sometime in the next few days. When we arrived at GreenTurtle we were all very excited. We love this place! We were surprised to see Whale Rider here (a Krogen 58 which we haven’t seen since Pebble Isle, Tenn.). We went to lunch to start “eating” our dock fees (remember they deduct your bill from your dockage). Joyce and Jaycie cleaned the stainless and I did some business. MARCH 7, 2007 (Green Turtle Cay) This morning it was still windy and cool…but nice. We found out that, once again, we skated by some pretty rough weather. A few weeks ago, when we got hit with those 50+ mph winds at Marsh Harbor, Green Turtle got hit with a micro burst of 105mph and hail. One person said they saw their dinghy “hover” off the ground like a kite! No major damage here (it wasn’t sustained wind) but some boats had canvas ripped off. Once again we lucked out…with the light 50mph winds! We saw four other people from last time we were here and once again it was like homecoming. We rented a golf cart with ML for the day and explored the entire island (every road and non-road). The golf carts here have oversized tires for better driving on unpaved roads. Along the way we met a couple of new loopers at another marina. We got invited into a new construction home (1.3million) and what a view! 360 degree on top of the island-water in every direction…beautiful. We went into town and had lunch. We saw a horse roaming around on some property, we stopped to see it. It came right over to our golf cart. We made friends with some more “locals” who were older and lived here their whole life. After talking, for a while, we began to realize just how small this island is. We started getting the “local gossip”. Everyone knows everything about everyone. I guess 200 people on an island is a little too small and toooo intimate. Going down a sand road, we found a great snorkel spot which we will come back to in the next couple of days. We also found the local garbage dump, called "Garbage Depot" by the locals. They burn their garbage here, once or twice a week. We had to stop in and see. Persystence (a sailboat we met at Seaspray and then again at Orchid bay came in right across the dock from us. We had a little party on the dock. Really enjoying it here, and look forward to spending the week. Friday we are going on a snorkeling/diving excursion with a local outfit (Brendal‘s)…can’t wait. It’s an all day adventure ending with eating lobster on the beach (I believe we are going to catch them…wow!).

Great Guana

MARCH 5, 2007 (Great Guana Cay) Although the front missed us, we have decided to stay around for another day. It’s a little cool (65 degrees- how quickly we get spoiled). Joyce, Jaycie & ML went for a walk into town (all 2 stores) and then walked around the island for a while. My back still isn’t feeling great, so I stayed back and did some work on the boat (re-enforced a wooden floor grate in the head, rebuilt the gray water tank inspection cover plate and wire brushed/repainted the “Westerbeke“ name plate on the genset). Later, that evening, we walked to a local restaurant to watch "Prison Break" and "24"....great shows…great ribs…life is good!

Great Guana Cay

MARCH 4, 2007 (Elbow Cay to Great Guana Cay) A really nice morning. Weather says a strong front is coming, but won’t be in until later today. We only have to travel a couple of hours to Guana Cay today (they are having a pig roast at “Nippers“). We decided to move on and what a cruise. Gorgeous day. We arrive at Orchid Bay marina and again, another quaint marina on a small island. Love it! We come in and see other loopers we know. We settle in and head over to Nippers. When walking over, a golf cart with a driver in a top hat stops and offers us a ride there. The driver was interesting. He puts out his cigarette and says, They don’t allow smoking when he has passengers”, then he says, “Next thing you know they won’t let me drink and drive either!“ He drops us at Nippers and we give him a few bucks. Nippers is a well known outdoor kind of club, on the beach with a salt water pool and everything is painted brightly. What an atmosphere. They’ve got a band playing, people dancing….one big party! We had some food and then I took Jaycie swimming in the pool. We saw lots of people we knew. We went for a walk on the beach. There was a rock that had a “natural Jacuzzi” (kind of) hole that the waves would roll into. We climbed in and had a great time. You could see the storm clouds coming our way in the distance, but there was still plenty of time until they got here. If we do get the weather, we will probably be here for 2-3 days.

Elbow Cay

FEBRUARY 26, 2007 (Elbow Cay) My back is starting to show signs of improvement (thank God!). But I’ll still want to be very careful not to aggravate it. Today we took a short hop to Elbow Cay. A quaint little marina which we liked immediately. We’re starting to get that old feeling of “I like it here…I think I could live here.” Two boats down from us is a 65’ Marlow. A beautiful “fast” trawler yacht. I told my friend’s wife Jenn this (they’re into race boats) and when I told her it would do as high as 20mph she broke out laughing- well to us “trawler folk”….it’s fast! We took the dinghy and went shelling and snorkeling. When we got back, we dinghied to lunch at a restaurant on the ocean. It was beautiful. Interesting side story, there are two large (approx. 4’x6’) pieces of the shuttle Challenger, which blew up. They said they called the US and told them they were holding them for us. When our “representatives” showed up, they had such “cocky” attitudes that the Bahamian government said, “forget it, we’re keeping them.”….and here they are sitting on the deck of the restaurant. Anyway, we like it here and think we’ll stay a few days. FEBRUARY 27, 2007 (Elbow Cay) We woke up to a raging thunder storm with rain…AWESOME! We woke up because the air conditioner went off and on a couple of times, then the power in the marina stayed out all morning. We cooked breakfast using the genset. By afternoon it was beautiful out, sunny and warm. We definitely love it here. I went and talked with the Captain from the Marlow 65 (Never Better). We dinghied over to Hope town…again beautiful. From my first opinion of the Bahamas it has changed dramatically. Even though, at first, I felt we had wasted our time coming here, now we are in love with all the small islands and love ’Island hopping”. First we went to the Hope town light house and climbed to the top…what a view! Spectacular. We dinghied across to Hope town and it was a really cute, quaint little town. It reminded us of Fire island a bit. We walked around and shopped. Going back we had an unscheduled dinghy race which Jaycie loved. When we got back I met Dot, the owner of Never Better. She was really nice. I talked with her about the operational costs of ownership. Afterward, told me to come by with Joyce tomorrow and she will give us a tour… I can’t wait! Jaycie went over to the boat next to us to catch some fish. FEBRUARY 28, 2007 (Elbow Cay) It’s another stormy morning. We went up under the overhang to go on line. Even while in a storm we really like this place. We took advantage of the bad weather to get some business and home school done. Home schooling is going really well (thanks to Joyce). We called Joyce’s Dad to see how he was doing (he’s getting some tests done today). Things seem to be progressing well. Later, ML was coming over to play Mexican dominos when he tripped getting off the boat….14 dominos went in the water. We still played with what was left (we‘ll try to get the others in the morning). MARCH 1, 2007 (Elbow Cay) A very windy day. When it calmed down I went “snorkeling for dominos“. When I went under I saw 15 dominos. ML told me there are only 14 down there. I looked again and still saw 15, but they reassured me that there were only 14. I looked one more time and counted 14. I noticed a nasty jellyfish floating near me and told them to keep an eye on it for me. When I dove down to get the first domino I realized that all the “dark spots” on the bottom (which the dominos were laying among) were ALL jelly fish!!! I use some precision instruments to get them from among the jellyfish (Jaycie’s “alligator on a stick”-like PeeWee Hermans). I got them all but one, which ML gave me a needle nose plier to pull it out of a little hole it fell in. I went back to the boat and got a lot more business done. We want to finish up a few business projects before we head back to the US and head up the coast. Then ML informs me…there were 15 missing! DOH! I went in again and looked over an approx. 8’ square area with a fine tooth comb for about 20 minutes….but no luck. Went out to lunch at that ocean front place again. When we got back Sue (ML) says she sees the domino. We take a look and sure enough we can see it looking down where I had already searched. The only thing we can figure is it was under a jellyfish or in one of those skinny holes and whatever was in it pushed it out. Anyway, once again I jumped in and now we have ALL THE DOMINOS! That evening we walked down to the ocean and Jaycie blew her conch at sunset. MARCH 2, 2007 (Elbow Cay) Spent the day organizing the boat and doing a little cleaning and exterior maintenance. MARCH 3, 2007 (Elbow Cay) Nice weather, so we went snorkeling again. This time we went to “the wreck”. Actually it was 2 boats (20‘+), the front end of a jeep, some cars, a barge and a tractor…very interesting. The cool part was that it was like a man made reef. There were fish EVERYWHERE! It felt like we were snorkeling in a tropical fish tank. It’s amazing how comfortable we are getting here. On the way back we beached the dinghies and walked to a grocery store. We talked to the locals and said we didn’t care for the Bahamas (Freeport) when we got here, but now that we are on the small out islands, we love it. She told me these are the family islands (meaning local families) and that we shouldn’t go Nassau either. I asked how is it when a hurricane comes through? She said, “Scary as Sh#*!” (ask a dumb question,….). That evening we went to Cracker P’s, on Lubbers Cay, by dinghy. They are having a Full Moon party and a lot of the loopers will be going. It was a really nice place with a unique atmosphere. We had our drink and then head back in the dark (the dinghy is really getting some use now). It was a dark night and a couple of boats, at anchor and in the channel, had NO lights on, making it next to impossible to see. We had a spot light so it wasn’t too much trouble for us. Back at the marina they were having a band, which was really good. We ordered a barbeque chicken pizza…MMMMMMM! We enjoyed the food and music and then called it a night (it’s a tough life, but given enough time I think I could force myself to like it! : ). We do hear that a strong front is coming in, so we will listen to the weather to see if we will stay put or move on tomorrow.